Sabre Territory
by Incy Little Spider
Summary: When Sid is only a little sloth kid, he and some other little 'uns go to the Sabre Territory for a dare-devil game. Sid might just meet a certain someone...someone who he'll meet again in the far-off future.


"Is he gone?" A mangy-looking sloth muttered urgently, looking around. His three other sloth companions nodded.

"We lost him over the hill…stupid moron," the apparent leader of the group answered, sniffing haughtily. The sloths looked to be young, probably preadolescent, and were looking around for something.

"They said they'll meet us here," a nervous-looking sloth, with shaggy dark hair said. They all looked around again.

"They won't chicken out…or they'll owe us ten of the good berries," the leader said but looked worried. "Remember if we lose we'll have to play with Sid for the week," he added and they others flinched at the thought. There was a pause while the boys waited around. They were far away from their home, from safety…they were sitting next to a large, dusty hill with scraggly looking trees splotched around in the dirt. These kids had never ventured this far away from home.

Suddenly there came some muffled giggles from the top of the hill and a handful of female sloths, the same age as the boys came waddling down to meet them.

"Hi!" The leader of the boy sloths grinned. A few of the girl sloths gave him death looks and he backed away.

"Ready to lose?" Snapped the tallest of the females, a sloth with bright orange fur.

"You're too much of a bunch of girls to beat us," the mangy-looking sloth retaliated. Everyone glared at each other for awhile.

"Okay," the leader sloth said, walking over to the closest weather-beaten tree.

"We all know the rules. From this tree onwards is…" he paused, shooting everyone an evil look. "_**Sabre **_territory_!" _

Some of the sloths started looking anxious…

"Any sloth brave enough to walk into _**sabre** _territory…the one who gets the most far into _**sabre**_ territory…gets 10 berries off the losers and they don't have to play with Sid," he said grinning mischievously.

Everyone glanced at each other. The dusty wasteland stretched out until it hit a towering tall cliff with a bunch of stone steps leading upwards. Just over that cliff…was something every sloth child had been taught to fear since birth.

"But if you go too far…" a sadistic looking female whispered, making a few of the others jump. "The tigers will sniff you out and…" she trailed off, grinning.

There was a scared silence, were the two groups huddled together. No-one seemed brave enough to make the first move. After five minutes the leader sloth broke away.

"I'll do it. Watch the master at work," he sniffed striding over to the tree that separated the sloths and the sabres. He paused and hesitated for a few moments…before walking onwards.

His peers gave a gasp of awe as he strode on. A couple of more steps towards the cliffs and he seemed to lose confidence and yelped, running back. The other kids looked around for a glimpse of a tiger and saw nothing. Finally he reached the safety of the group and fell to the ground, panting.

"You think that's good?" The bright orange she-sloth laughed. She separated from her group of friends and marched up the wasteland and towards the cliff. After getting nearly halfway she gulped and ran back.

"Who's going next?" She grinned. "Who's going to risk getting eaten by a tiger?"

There was a nervous silence…

…which was broken by the excited yells of a voice from the top of the hill.

"You said we lost him!" The mangy-looking sloth snapped, looking annoyed. Everyone moaned as they saw their visitor.

"Hey guys why didn't you wait up for me?" Sid asked, spraying some spit around. The sloths all glared at him.

"Go away, Sid. Only cool, brave people can play this game," the leader growled. Everyone nodded in agreement. Sid glanced around, looking crestfallen.

"I'm brave," he replied and a few sloths snickered.

"Brave enough to go into _**sabre** _territory?" The leader challenged, raising an eyebrow.

Sid took a look at the dusty, wasteland ending in the rocky cliffs and gulped. He looked at the others who were all grinning maliciously at him.

"Yeah! I could do that easy, no problem," he answered, putting on a macho look. He pivoted on his heel and took a few steps towards the cliff, trying to act confident. He stopped and looked around at his companions. They all had contemptuous expressions plastered across their faces.

"Well go on, then!" One called.

Turning back around he swallowed nervously and took a few more steps forward. He thought he saw something at the top of the cliff…

"He's gunna chicken out!" Someone yelled.

"He's gunna give up!"

"What a wuss!"

"Hardly got far at all!"

Sid attempted to pull himself together. _They think they're so cool. Well I'll show them…_

He started walking, recklessness flowing through his veins. Surprised gasps echoed behind him and he smiled. After a few moments of more walking he stopped at the cliff steps. He hauled himself up one.

"The idiot's gunna kill himself!"

"Get him to come back!"

"No I want to see if he'll go further…"

Panting with the effort, Sid climbed up a few more steps. His heart had started pumping painfully in his chest and he briefly thought of turning back…

…and suddenly, out of the blue, there was a roar from above and something heavy knocked him painfully to the dusty ground. The group of sloths shrieked and ran for it and Sid's head bounced hollowly against the dust.

He awaited the teeth tearing into his flesh…the claws ripping him to pieces, his life ending in a second…

…after a few minutes of nothing, he opened one of his screwed up eyes….and into the bright green ones of a rather shifty-looking tiger.

His claw was hanging awkwardly in mid-air as if it had paused in the middle of swiping. He looked pretty young…maybe only a bit older then Sid….and he looked totally dumbfounded on what to do next with his prey.

"Um…are-aren't you going to eat me now?" Sid asked trying to shift the paw that was pinning his shoulder down. The grip tightened and the claws retracted.

"Err…yeah, sorry," the cub replied, looking embarrassed. He looked around, as if seeking someone to help him with the difficult task of ripping a sloth apart.

"It's just…I've never killed anything before," he muttered, shifting his weight so Sid couldn't get away. The sloth blinked up at him, feeling confused.

"I thought tigers killed all the time…I mean that's what Marshell said. He said tigers are crazy, murder-machines…but I don't trust him, he's always trying to scare me."

The tiger cub was listening to all of this with a faint smile. He didn't seem to mind being sprayed with saliva.

"My brother Soto said that any animal that wasn't a tiger deserved to be eaten…he's scary. Dad said he's going to be head of the pack in a few years."

There was a awkward pause for a few minutes.

"This is my first hunt…Dad said I should start earning my keep," the tiger cub added nervously. Sid swallowed and tensed up.

_Well this is it…I'm gunna die…I didn't even get to kiss a girl! I didn't get to see what was in that cave that everyone's scared of! I didn't get to say bye to Mum…not like she'd miss me though…_

A few minutes he realized he was saying all of this out-loud. He flushed as the tiger cub sent him a sympathetic look. A few more minutes passed and suddenly the cub hauled himself off of the sloth. Sid looked at him feeling more confused then ever.

"Er…I'll find some more prey…scat," he muttered motioning for him to leave with his paw. Sid attempted to get up and immediately slipped to the ground again. The cub grinned and Sid finally got to his feet.

"Cya around…" The sloth said, waving. The cub waved a little awkwardly back and started loping off up the cliff.

As Sid waddled back towards the hill he examined the deep gouge running up his side, he grinned.

"Wait till the guys back home hear about this!"

* * *

** A/N Am I the only one who used to play games like that as a lil tyke? Who gets the closest to the scary haunted house? No-one? Ah, anyway I thought it would be cute to have little Sid meet little Diego...be thankful I didn't submit some heavy slash between the two. It might've given some of you nightmares...anyway hope y'all liked it. Cya soon!**


End file.
